BACK TO BOONE’S FALLS

A week ago, my dog Boone fell over a 70’ waterfall. Darrin and I were exploring Little Fall Creek in Jones Gap State Park when we stumbled upon the brink of a previously undocumented waterfall. Boone got too close to the water and was swept over the edge. Luckily the waterfall isn’t vertical – it’s a long, steep sliding cascade. Miraculously, Boone survived. In fact, he wasn’t even injured. He ended up on a narrow perch in the middle of the waterfall, right at the brink of the final drop. Rescuing him from there was scary, but I managed.

Because of the drama of that afternoon, we didn’t get a chance to enjoy the waterfall we had found. I decided to go back for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to study the waterfall, to see if I could determine just how Boone had escaped unscathed. Getting more photos of Boone’s Falls was also on the agenda. I also wanted to explore further upstream, as the topo map suggests that there could be additional waterfalls.

Darrin and Brenda planned to hike in the area on Sunday, but I had other plans that day. Jack was interested in hiking on Saturday, so I met him in Spartanburg that morning. The dogs and I rode with him up to Caesar’s Head State Park. It was a sunny but chilly morning, with temperatures below freezing at the beginning of our hike.

I expected Little Fall Creek to take about a ½ day. Since the area had received 4 days of steady rain the previous week, we decided to check out a couple of waterfalls on low-volume streams first. Misty Falls and Mashbox Falls are in the headwaters of Oil Camp Creek, just below highway 276. Although they are close to the road, there is no official trail to them and they aren’t well known. Since they are on small streams, we figured this was the perfect weekend to check them out.

We drove up 276 about 5 miles from the highway 11 intersection. We passed the Pinnacle Pass Trail, but there very limited parking where the trail crosses the road. We continued ahead a short distance to Oil Camp Creek Road. We drove down the dirt road a short distance to a parking area just before a gate.

We were putting on our boots when a large group of hikers approached, coming from the highway. It turns out they were boy scouts being led by our buddy Darrin. I knew he was leading a hike in the area that morning, but hadn’t expected to bump into him. It was great to see him, and we even followed them for the first mile of our hike.

We hiked down the road past the gate. A few minutes later we encountered another gate, followed by some fallen trees across the road. I don’t think there’s much danger of running into traffic on this road! After a few minutes of walking from the parking area, the Pinnacle Pass Trail joined the road, having just descended from highway 276. We followed the old road / trail for about a mile, descending on switchbacks and crossing numerous small streams created by the recent wet weather.

We passed through a sawed log spanning the trail and reached another fallen tree a few steps later. At this point we left the main road / Pinnacle Pass Trail, following a faint overgrown road towards Oil Camp Creek. This road led us upstream, the roar of the water promising some spectacular waterfalls. Before long we crossed a tributary. Misty Falls is located up this stream, but we decided to save it for the hike out.

We continued up Oil Camp Creek to the base of a large cascade. We attempted photos here, but the sun was already high in the sky. The lighting was bad for waterfall photography for most of the day.

From there we backtracked a short distance before climbing steeply above the creek. We regained the old roadbed and followed it upstream, past more lovely cascades. The terrain flattened out a bit along here. Before long we could see Mashbox Falls ahead of us, through the trees.

The last couple hundred yards required some difficult hiking. We rock hopped the creek to the right side, but it wasn’t much better. The hillside is extremely steep, and the soil was wet and slippery from the recent rain. The grade was just steep enough that a tumble might end in the creek. We moved ahead very carefully, hoping to get to a good vantage point for photos. We reached the base of the falls with nothing more than a few minor slips and spills.

Mashbox Falls is a steep cascading waterfall of about 50’. As expected, the waterfall was raging. In fact, there may have been too much water. The base wasn’t the best angle for photos. The hillside to the right of the falls looked promising, but the spray up there was horrific. To make matters worse, I didn’t think I could get up there and back safely due to the steep, wet slope. Perhaps next time.

From there we backtracked downstream. A short distance below the falls we stumbled upon the remains of an old moonshine operation. We found the actual mashbox, along with the remains of a barrel. From there we followed the same route back most of the way to the tributary we had crossed earlier. However, we followed the ridge to the north of the stream, in attempt at creating a short cut. This worked, but the going was tough. The terrain is steep, and the area below the falls is littered with fallen trees. Two of them presented serious obstacles, but we eventually reached the base of Misty Falls.

Misty Falls is a nice cascading waterfall. It is taller than Mashbox Falls, but on a smaller stream. The abundant deadfall meant that the only decent vantage point was right at the base of the falls. We attempted some photos despite the poor light. Then we headed back down to Oil Camp Creek, following the ridge north of the tributary in an attempt to avoid the worst of the deadfall.

We took a short break at Oil Camp Creek before hiking back to Jack’s truck. The round trip took us about 3 hours, leaving us with plenty of time to explore Little Fall Creek. First though, we drove up to the park office so I could pick up a new trail map. The one I’d been using was at least 10-12 years old, and it was in tatters. Plus, the new map shows some newer trails that aren’t on my classic version.

From there we drove back down the mountain. We arrived at the Fall Creek Falls Trailhead at 1pm. The small parking area was overflowing, so we improvised a parking space on the side of the road. I leashed the dogs for the first part of this hike, as we were anticipating a crowded trail. We did run into one group of hikers, but apparently most everyone else was at the falls.

We didn’t go all the way to Fall Creek Falls. Just before reaching the crossing of Little Fall Creek we turned upstream on the remnants of an old road. A few minutes of easy walking on the roadbed brought us to the base of Boone’s Falls. The water was raging there, too. One of the first things I noticed was that the area where I had rescued Boone the previous week was now a raging torrent of whitewater. Getting down there would’ve been impossible in those conditions.

The light was still bad for photography, but we took a few shots anyway. I did spend a few minutes studying the waterfall. How did Boone survive the fall? And how did he end up at the brink of the final drop, on the west side of the falls? The creek turns sharply just before the final plunge. His momentum should have pushed him to the east side of the stream.

I have one theory. Perhaps he slid down the rock face right next to the waterfall, but didn't get caught in the current itself.  The adjacent rock is basically a waterslide with a thin veil of water running over it. Darrin mentioned that leaves had accumulated under him as he went.  The leaves under him would've functioned like a mat.  Where the creek turns below the boulder, just before the last drop, it flattens out briefly.  He probably slid down the rock and landed in the water there, stopping his momentum.  No doubt he was disoriented.  My guess is he jumped out of the water immediately, but picked the wrong side.  Since we had started on the west side, he probably went that way out of instinct.  That would've left him perched on the rock above that last drop, too scared to cross the creek over to the (safe) east side.

We followed remnants of the old road steeply upstream along the side of the falls. The old road is very close to the waterfall, and I was extremely nervous about the dogs. Boone wasn’t going anywhere near the creek, but I was more concerned about Kona. She’s a sweetie, but she isn’t the brightest dog around. I yelled at her every time she even thought about approaching the stream.

Near the top of the falls the old track veered towards the creek. It seemed to disappear, though it may actually cross Little Fall Creek. Crossing wasn’t an option because of the high water, so we angled away, climbing up the ridge to the right.

This was rough going. Boulders, fallen trees, briars, and rhododendron slowed our pace to a crawl. Before long we found ourselves on a rugged ridge crowned with a series of house-sized boulders. We worked our way along the base of the boulders, scrambling higher and higher. I kept thinking that the terrain would ease up once we climbed past the next boulder. But every time, the next boulder simply led to another one.

At one point we tried to work our way back down to the creek. We spotted another waterfall through the jungle, but couldn’t find a way to get to it. There were cliffs between us and the creek, and the hillside was treacherous and thick with vegetation. This was frustrating, as we were tantalizingly close to a waterfall that had probably been seen by very few. Early on we saw some old ribbons above Boone’s Falls, but here there was no sign that another human had passed this way.

Eventually we conceded defeat. We descended relatively open slopes east of the route we climbed, and found the going much easier. I’ll remember that if we ever try this again. However, if we do, I don’t think we’ll go anywhere near those cliffs. They were virtually impassable. The best bet might be to follow the old road to the top of Boone’s Falls. It may be possible to continue up the creek from there to the waterfall we spotted.

I suspect that there is yet another waterfall further upstream on Little Fall Creek. I have a plan to check that area out. Stay tuned…

Our descent route brought us back to the old road just above the big boulder near the base of Boone’s Falls. From there, we hiked back down to the trail. We were beat up and worn out, and initially we were planning on calling it a day. However, at the last minute we decided to check out one last waterfall on Fall Creek. Our friend Brenda had given us a tip on this one, which is a short distance downstream from Fall Creek Falls. She calls it “Chute Falls”, which is a very appropriate name.

An unofficial trail marked with orange ribbons leads to Chute Falls. Unfortunately, getting there requires crossing the creek twice. The water was too high for rock hopping. We were near the end of the hike though, so we just waded it. At first it didn’t seem too cold, but that didn’t last long. By the fourth crossing my feet were ice cubes.

We passed a pretty cascade early on. The sun was getting lower at this point, and the light was actually good. Conditions were good at Chute Falls, too. Chute Falls is impressive, as the full force of the creek is funneled into a narrow slot. I’ve never seen it mentioned in any publication on waterfalls, but is definitely worth checking out.

We hiked back fast in an effort to warm our feet up. It had been a great day of waterfall exploration, and we’re already talking about another attempt at Little Fall Creek. I’ve got an eye on a couple of other possible waterfalls in the area to investigate, too.

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